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Leisure : Angling News Last Updated: 2, Apr 2018 - 10:02


Angling News - Mayo/Galway - 6 Oct 2011
By Kevin Crowley
8, Oct 2011 - 13:32

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The end of the game angling season has come and gone, and looking back on 2011 it was a mixed bag, some spectacular salmon fishing at times, as well as disappointing trout fishing for much of the season. Some anglers, however,  experienced fantastic trout fishing and much of the variation can be put down to weather conditions.


Erriff

September crowned a great season on the Erriff, with 165 salmon landed, bringing the season total to 528, the best season since 2001 and a great testament to the hard work done by fishery manager Jim Stafford and his staff, as well as the fishery protection staff over the last few years. Catch-and-release was a huge feature on the Erriff this season, with 267 salmon released again, or just over 50% of the catch, meaning an additional 500,000 eggs will be deposited in the river during this winter's spawning season.
The last week of the season featured some big floods, making the river unfishable at times, but 35 salmon were landed, including 6 for Dr. H. Gordon from Galway over 2 days on Beat 7. David Fleming, Australia landed 3 fish in 2 days fishing - best fish estimated at 10lbs, all sportingly released. Regular visitor Stuart Woodhead, from Scarborough, N. Yorkshire had 3 fish - best a fresh run fish of 6.5lbs caught in the Holly Pool, while Juigo Tellache, Spain fishing the Erriff for the first time, caught his first ever salmon at 6.25lbs in the Colonel's Run on Beat 6, and went on to catch another two which were released.

Albert Caffery, Athy and Liam Maloney from Dublin caught the last two salmon of the season on the last day of the month and Norbert Meier, Luxembourg caught the last sea trout of the season in the Coronation Pool on Beat 8.

With the massive improvement in catches on the Erriff this year, anglers and staff alike are already looking forward to next season. The removal of the driftnets seems to have had a big impact on salmon runs here, as this year was the first full life cycle following their removal, and the benefits were clear to be seen. Hopefully this upwards trend will continue over the next few years, and already the Erriff is on its way back to being the premier spate salmon fishery in the west of Ireland.

The lodge remains open for non-fishing guests for the next month or so, with excellent rates on offer. To book accommodation, contact Jim at Aasleagh Lodge on 095 42252, or email erriff.fish@iol.ie

Lough Inagh

Fishery manager Colin Folan reports from Lough Inagh on a memorable season:

2011 will be a season to remember for Lough Inagh Fishery. We had record numbers of salmon landed this year, and all the beats and pools produced fish. The river was perfect for most of the season due to the high water. As the months passed the salmon fishing improved which is a little strange, as July is usually the best month. Again this season there was a lack of 10lbs-plus fish - only 5 were caught! However our average grilse size is slightly over 5lbs. The first salmon of the year was landed on the 16th of May at the Derryclare Butts by Finbar McGreevy and it weighed 12.75lbs. The largest salmon of the season was caught by William Hamilton on Corloo Beat and it weighed 15lbs+ and took a Sunray Shadow. Top rod for salmon was Andy Walsh with 11 salmon, all caught on Lough Inagh. Some very large fish were seen in the fishery, but they showed little interest in our flies.

The sea trout season was far from good. In late June they started to arrive (right on cue), and I was very excited at the numbers and size of them, with 3 and 4lbs fish being caught every day. However, they stopped running in early July and it has been puzzling and frustrating to work out why the run was so poor. Brown trout numbers were also down, and there was a lack of large browns this year, only 3 fish over 6lbs. Our heaviest brown was caught on a Wooly Bugger on the 26th of July by German lady angler, Anke Kondla. The fish was estimated at 11lbs and was released. There were four Arctic Char also caught on the lake and it is delightful to see these creatures as they are a good indicator of clean water. Many anglers gazed at the pair of Golden Eagles overhead in the Inagh Valley and I am waiting for some DVD footage taken by an angler a couple of weeks ago.


  • Catch totals for 2011 were Salmon 133, Sea Trout 263, Brown Trout 81, Char 4
  • Catch totals for 2010 were Salmon 79, Sea Trout 502, Brown Trout 212, Char 2
  • Catch totals for 2009 were Salmon 56, Sea Trout 470, Brown Trout 424, Char 3

The annual End of Season competition was fished on September 30th, and was won by Andy Walsh, with 2 Sea Trout, 2 Brown Trout and a 9lbs Salmon. Second was William Hamilton with 2 Brown Trout and a 6lbs Salmon. Third place went to Richard Maguire with 1 Sea Trout and 8 Brown Trout.

Lough Inagh Lodge will remain open until early December, and if any anglers wish to come to learn to tie flies or improve their casting I can offer a deal upon request.

To book accommodation at Lough Inagh Lodge, contact them at:

Lough Inagh Lodge Hotel, Recess, Connemara, Co. Galway

www.loughinaghlodgehotel.ie

Tel. +353 (0)95 34706


Kylemore Abbey

Nigel Rush reports from Kylemore on the best fishing for many years:

We can boast our most productive year since 1998 which resulted in the Abbey section of the fishery producing 238 salmon. A steady decline in numbers followed after 1998 until the drift nets were removed in 2007.

The fishery this year produced 143 Salmon for just 257.5 Rod Days. A staggering average of 0.56 salmon/rod-day over the entire fishery. However, if 5 fish were removed from the total (those caught on the lakes) and the lake rod-days removed from the overall total then the Dawros river has produced 138 salmon for 147.5 rod-days...a staggering 0.935 salmon/rod-day.

We had some consistently good anglers who were returning over 2 fish per day and this was greatly helped by top rod Geoffrey Fitzjohn who for 17.5 days effort landed 37 salmon for the season, blanking on just 3.5 days.

Considering that up to the end of August, there had been a shortfall of over 700 salmon over the counter against the same period in 2010, the salmon have, to say the least, been most co-operative! The combination of predominantly good angling conditions, water levels and not to forget the masterful abilities of our anglers during the August and September months has added to our success. A good deal of fresh fish seemed to be running the system over the last couple of weeks of September and we have recorded the best September in decades with 51 fish recorded or nearly 36% of the season's catch... the most productive month this season.

Of the 143 salmon landed this year, 81 fish were returned, a healthy 57%.

The total weight of salmon landed has amounted to 618.75lbs averaging the individual weight at 4.33lb against 3.70lbs in 2010. Just 2 salmon were fin-clipped this year against an average of 8% over other seasons.

A very noticeable increase this year in the amount of salmon parr in the river indicates good past spawning and hopefully we will reap the rewards over the next few years.

Sea trout catches were up on last year with 377 recorded against 214 last year -an average of 1.46 sea trout/rod-day. Again, if figures were adjusted by removing 15% of the total (those caught on the river) and the resultant figure of 321 sea trout caught on the lakes divided by the 110 lake rod-days, anglers were averaging 2.99/rod-day. The average weight was around 12-14 ounces and fish of >1.5lb were not a rare occurrence with 4.5lbs our largest for the season. It has been a difficult year on the lakes with once again predominately Southerly winds which tend to play havoc with regard to good drifting conditions.

I predict very good spring runs in 2012 as this year's counter deficit, mainly grilse, possibly will return as 2sw fish next year. We can only keep our fingers crossed.


Delphi

Fishery manager David McEvoy reports from Delphi on a fine end to the season: The big news is that we did break the 500, although it wasn't until the 30th and as most people know any method of rod and line goes.

There are some fish to report before the 30th. We actually landed 4 on Thursday. Mark Corps had 2, one off the Turn Pool of 7lbs 8oz on a Prawn Fly and one off Finlough of 4lbs13ozs on a Flamethrower.

Jeremy Nieboer had one off Finlough of 4lbs 3.5oz on a Collie Dog and finally Stephane Lamotte from France landed his first ever, a fish of 5lbs 8oz on a beaded nymph.
On the 30th we ended up with 49 fish all of which were caught on other methods. The most important element of this day is that it's a fun day out for staff and locals. This it turned out to be and we had a great day with a lovely barbecue for lunch. It's always great to see people catching fish that normally don't get a chance. As usual there were quite a few firsts including;

Blain McNally, Killeen, 3lbs 13.5oz; Maura Prendergast, Louisburgh, 4lbs 12oz;

Kevin Gibbons, Louisburgh, 6lbs 7oz; Grace Wade also had the last fish of the season and her second ever of 6lbs 6oz.

I must mention Paul Wymes who aided and abetted 10 people to catch salmon who normally wouldn't get the chance. This gesture made for a lot of happy people.

September's total ended up at 53 salmon landed plus 49 on the last day which makes a total of 102. Sea trout have not all been totalled yet but again it will be well down on last year and the previous. This brings the total salmon landed for year to 528.

I would like to say thank you to everybody who made this season such a good one. Hopefully we will have many more in the future.

Delphi Lodge remains open for accommodation, and to contact them for rates, call the lodge at 095 42222, or check www.delphi-salmon.com

 

Ballynahinch Castle

Simon Ashe reports from Ballynahinch Castle Fishery on the end to a great season:

Ballynahinch has just completed one of its most successful fishing seasons in many years. The total catch of over 110 fish to the fly on the Castle Stretch was very respectable whilst the total catch of approximately 350 fly caught salmon for the whole catchment is the best in many years. September, as expected, came in with a solid 40 fish with 35 being returned.

A summer frequented by numerous floods and unseasonably windy days, made for some fantastic salmon fishing leaving very few blank days in the fishing register at the hotel.

The largest fish of the season, a fresh springer of 14.25lbs fell to regular angler, Ann Corcoran with Tom McManus coming a very close second. Top rods for the year were Tom McManus and Stephen Cullinane. There were a great deal more multi-sea-winter fish in the system this season compared with other years and it would seem that this trend was replicated throughout the country.
Counter figures would appear to be slightly down on last year's record return; however, they would appear to be in line with the five year trend. The numbers of large sea trout increased year on year, however, the finnock numbers continue to struggle, most likely due to low numbers of spawning fish over the past few years. We are confident that sea trout numbers are still going in the right direction.

The fish-out competition on the last day of the season proved to be a great success once again with 5 fish landed and returned safely to spawn. The top prize was shared by local guides, Frank Flaherty and Michael Van Mourick who each returned a 12lbs fish on the day.

Regular angler, Stephen Cullinane, landed the most magnificent trout on the fly whilst fishing on the Lower Sna Beg beat on 16th September. The fish, weighing in at 15lbs 5oz, was the largest trout landed (as far as we are aware) on the Ballynahinch System in living memory. We are currently unsure if this fish had spent any time feeding at sea, or on other trout in the freshwater, however, when the scales are examined over the winter it should shed more light on the issue. The fish is currently with the taxidermist and will be on display in the Fisherman's Pub at the hotel from next season.

 



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